Live performances bring new life to historic theater

The Rodgers Theatre is the Stage Company’s home, agrees Rodgers Theatre Inc’s president Wally Duncan and the Stage Company’s recording secretary Tracy Tarpley.

Having a permanent home in the Historic Rodgers Theatre, gives The Stage Company roots as a community theater organization.

“Our patrons don’t have to wonder where we will be performing our next season, they already know we will be at the Historic Rodgers,” Tarpley said. “There have been many times a patron has come up to one of us after a show and said ‘I remember when…’ and it just makes it that much more special to know we are able to add to people’s memories of the theater.”

Before the group had a permanent performance space, they performed in church fellowship halls, gyms, ball fields, Bacon Park and in the Tinnin Fine Arts Center at Three Rivers College.

“We give back to the community every time we do a show,” Tarpley said. “The set materials, prop pieces and costumes come from local businesses if possible. We always shop local first before we reach out to other avenues to make a show happen. Because we try to find everything locally, we are spending our money and supporting our local small-town businesses.”

Tarpley likes that “when patrons come see our shows, they usually make a date or family night of it, so they are going out to dinner before the show or for ice cream after the show, again putting money back into local businesses.”

Even without the financial side of it, every town needs community theater, Tarpley said.

While the actors have performed in other locations, Tarpley said, “to have a permanent home means a lot. The fact that it is a historical site and a landmark of Poplar Bluff just makes it better. Most of us know that theater like the back of our hands, we know her creaks and idiosyncrasies. We know we have to tweak this here or tweak that there to make it work because she’s an older building; but that’s the fun of it.

“When something doesn’t work, we figure out how to get the old girl up and running so she works for us and what we need to achieve for the show to be successful for our patrons.”

The group just spent $1,000 on upgrades to the lighting system and installed four choir mics so patrons could better hear what was happening on stage, Tarpley said.

Some of the equipment is also used for live performances by other groups and musicians.

“We’ve had a lot of local talent and one of the things that we pride ourselves on is it’s a venue for local talent that nobody else is offering,” Duncan said. “The Stage Company is part of that because obviously they’re local performers. It kind of goes with the theme that the Rodgers is a place for people in the community who have talent and it gives them a venue to express that.”

The Stage Company board currently has nine volunteers, with David Carroll being the president. James Kilgore is the technical coordinator, Grant Widenor is the set coordinator and Chris Wheat is the treasurer.

Since 1987, The Stage Company has been committed to bringing excellent live theater to the citizens of Southeast Missouri, Tarpley said. Once formed, the company mounted its first production, “Love, Sex, and the IRS” in May 1988. The Stage Company has continued to vary its performance material from kid-friendly productions like “The Wizard of Oz” to productions with more mature themes, like “Chicago.”

“We continue to grow as a company and as actors through our diverse subject matter,” Tarpley said.